Category Archives: Online

A lot of the media buying is shifting into the digital space, so how should marketers approach it to make it more effective?

What is ad fraud?

Ad fraud is described as something pretending to be a person, and therefore stealing impression from advertisers.

On top of that, 20% of impressions are lost, which sets you back on building sales and achieving success.

And even if some believe is going to decrease over time, it will happen only if the entire ecosystem addresses it.

“We are all responsible” said Ron Amram, Senior Media Director, Marketing, HEINEKEN USA. in the last conference of I/O 2015.

The only way to fight it, is to integrate collaborative solutions in the big ecosystem

There are 3 actions that can help fight ad fraud:

Identify bad actors: make them public, expose fraud from ad exchangers, those who sell “untruthfulll” inventory.

Create blacklists

Identify more sophisticated threaths.

We are in the first stage of this problem: we are recognizing it as a problem and we are starting to talk about it.

The solution has to be both organizational and technological. Business practices will have to change.

It is a security issue, so we have to address it as such, investing in changing the mentality and work together to make it more secure.

The buy side and sell side will have to talk and agree on inventory. We are worldwide stepping into this stage. It’s time to reconcile.

“Today we are in a transition period, but soon the buy side, us, is going to be able to spot the problem, and stop carrying all the burden” Michael Tiffany, Co-Founder and CEO, White Ops

The downside is that we don´t have standardized guidelines yet, or independent organization to supervise ad fraud. So, this will be the first and most important step if we really want to change the game.

The good side

There is going to be more competition in quality, improving the quality of the inventory (ad exchangers, ad network, or referral services) and taking responsibility for it. Which means, creating best practices.

Creating identifiers that rewards good actors and punishes bad actors. And create tools for the middle man to be able to spot them or trust the inventory they are buying.

We need to raise the bar, to be precise about the type of malware. And make it public, establish protocols making an economic effect and provoke changes. 2/3 of the ad fraud came from compromised regulars people’s computers.

In conclusion, the solution would be a collaborative conversation working towards a mutual agreement.

“People have realize the value of programmatic, and RTB, just now. Next step, how can we ensure it .” Douglas de Jager, Engineering Lead and Manager, Google Ad Traffic Quality, Google

We also know that B2C e-commerce sales in Latin America went up by 22% in 2014 and will grow by nearly 14% in 2015.

So digital marketers and agencies should be well attuned to what Latin Americans are buying online. Of course, data that covers the whole region is tricky to compile since e-commerce development varies greatly from country to country in Latam. But we were able to discover which products are flying off e-commerce shelves in most of the larger Latin American markets.

ARGENTINA
The Cámara Argentina de Comercio Electrónico (Argentine Chamber of E-Commerce) indicates that e-commerce sales in Argentina reached a total of 40.1 billion Argentine pesos (US$4.5 billion) in 2014.

What Argentines bought the most online in 2014 were travel products like tickets and hotel reservations: they spent more than US$1 billion on these and travel products made up more than 27% of total e-commerce sales.

Other top e-commerce products purchased in Argentina in 2014 include:

Electronic equipment and accessories (12.5% of total sales)

Food, drink and cleaning supplies (6.9%)

Appliances (5.3%)

Clothes (4.2%)

Tickets to shows and events (3.7%)

Home furnishings (3%)

Office supplies (2.3%)

Sporting goods (2.2%)

Auto and motorcycle accessories (2.1%)

Toys and games (1.6%)

Clothes and accessories for babies (1.5%)

Other (includes properties and vehicles) 27%

BRAZIL
The 2015 Webshoppers report from ebit indicates that Brazil posted R$35.8 billion (US$11.4 billion) in e-commerce sales in 2014. As such, e-commerce sales in Brazil went up 24% in 2014. More than 51 Brazilians made an online purchase in 2014 and generated a total of more than 103 million orders. Nearly 10% of e-commerce sales in 2014 in Brazil were made with mobile devices, mostly through smartphones. In 2014 6 of every 10 m-commerce shoppers in Brazil were classes A or B.

Top products sold via e-commerce in Brazil in 2014 include:

Fashion and accessories (17% of total sales)

Cosmetics, perfume and personal care (15%)

Appliances (12%)

Mobile phones and phone products (8%)

Books and magazine subscriptions (8%)

Computer products (7%)

Home furnishings (7%)

Electronics (6%)

Sporting goods (4%)

Toys and Games (3%)

CHILE
The Cámara de Comercio de Santiago (Santiago Chamber of Commerce) estimates that e-commerce sales in Chile would exceed US$2 billion in 2014, an increase of around 20% compared to 2013, in which total e-commerce sales in Chile were nearly US$1.6 billion. The most recent data we could find about the products that Chileans buy most online comes from a GfK study that covered e-commerce purchases in Chile during the first half of 2014. According to GfK’s results, the top products purchased by Chileans via e-commerce were:

Cell phones

Television sets

Tablets

Washing machines

Notebooks

Refrigerators

Stoves

Netbooks

COLOMBIA
A report from the firm PayU indicates that e-commerce grew by more than 41% in Colombia in 2014 to reach total sales of more than US$3.5 billion. It’s important to note that these are estimates from a private firm that reportedly reaches more than 80% of the market, as opposed to an independent study such as the one by e-bit or the CACE in Argentina. That said, PayU’s results are in line with projections from the Cámara Colombiana de Comercio Electrónico (Colombian Chamber of E-Commerce), which has yet to issue a report for 2014 e-commerce activity for the country. According to PayU’s results, the products that Colombians bought the most via e-commerce in 2014 were:

Airline tickets and hotel reservations

Coupons

Electronic products

Clothes and shoes

A 2013 study from The Cocktail Analysis identified differences in products between 3 groups they designated: sophisticated shoppers, advanced shoppers and entry point shoppers. However, when The Cocktail Analysis aggregated the results to show which products registered the most purchases relative to the total of all online shoppers in Colombia, the following products stood out:

Electronics and computer products

Travel products

Clothes

Telecommunications

Leisure

As can be observed, these are similar results to those from PayU.

MEXICO
According to the Asociación Mexicana de Internet (The Mexican Internet Association or AMIPCI) e-commerce sales in Mexico totaled more than 150 billion pesos ($US9.6 billion) and increased by 24% compared to 2013. AMIPCI has not yet released its 2014 Mexico e-commerce report, so the list of hot e-commerce products for Mexico comes from the 2013 report:

Plane or bus tickets

Music and movies

Computers

Clothes

Tickets to shows

Hotel reservations

Software

These results are fairly consistent with previous AMIPCI results on e-commerce in Mexico, suggesting that the hot e-commerce products in 2014 should not be that different.

URUGUAY
While data for e-commerce sales in Uruguay doesn’t seem to be readily available, a small 2014 study by Agencia de Gobierno Electrónico y Sociedad de la Information (Electronic Government Agency and Information Society or AGESIC) surveyed more than 1,000 e-commerce shoppers in Uruguay to find out what they most bought online:

We run into tons of data as we plan campaigns for online media and programmatic. But since sharing all of it will glaze your eyes, below we break down some key recent developments in the Latin American online world with some links if you want to read further.

With gross bookings by Latin American travelers expected to go up by 23% a year to reach US$98 billion by 2016, travel brands obviously have some significant opportunities. And within that larger Latam travel market is the luxury traveler market. Until recently, not a lot of data has been easily available for Latin American luxury travelers. But a new study by the International Luxury Travel Market and Travesías media offers insights about Latam luxury travelers through a survey of 90 owners and managers in the region who cater to this market. The study includes responses from travel agencies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru and Venezuela. So here’s what Latin American luxury travelers want:

To Travel to the United States, France or ItalyThe USA was the top-selling destination for the agents, followed by France and Italy. The United Kingdom ranked fourth and Spain ranked fifth.

To Explore Both Familiar and New Destinations
When asked about their biggest growth destinations, the agencies named China and Thailand as the two main ones. While the USA was also a growth destination and ranked nearly as high as China and Thailand, most of the growth destinations were less famous destinations like Maldives, Croatia, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.

To Go On a Cruise
When asked about the popularity of cruises among clients, 66% of the agencies said that cruises were popular, very popular or most popular among Latin American luxury travelers.

To Go in Groups
When asked about the demographics of their clients, only 24% of the agencies said they had single travelers. The large majority said they cater to families (89%) or couples (84%).

To Travel a Lot
More than a third (35%) of the agencies surveyed indicated that they had 3 bookings a year per client, compared to just 2% with one booking. And 40% indicated they had 4 to 5 or more bookings a year per client.

To Stay a While, But Not Too Long
The majority (78%) of Latin American luxury travelers have an average travel booking length of between 5 to 15 days. More than half (52%) have bookings of 10 to 15 days. Only 5% book for between 1 to 5 days and only 7% book for 15 to 20 days.

After reviewing new research from IBOPE and We Are Social, we found some facts that suggest that conventional wisdom about Internet users in Brazil that could be wrong in certain areas.

Myth #1: Brazilian Internet Users Are Mostly the Rich Upper Classes
IBOPE’s study showed that 52% of Brazilian Internet users are from the Class C middle class. Only 4% of Internet users in Brazil are from Class A, while 34% are from Class B. Classes D and E make up 10% of the Internet users.

Myth #2: Men Dominate Internet Use in Brazil
In fact, IBOPE’s research shows that 53% of Internet users in Brazil are women and 47% are men.

Myth #3: Most Internet Users in Brazil Are Young
While many have indicated that living online is more of a Millennial trait, IBOPE’s study shows that 34% of Brazilian Internet users are between 35 and 54 years old. This age group has a larger percentage of users than Brazilians aged 16 to 24, who make up 28% of the country’s online users. And Brazilians aged 25 to 34 make up 32% of Internet users, still less than the 35 to 54 group. However, it is important to note that Brazilians over 55 make up only 7% of the country’s online users.

Myth #4: Mobile Is Taking Over Internet Use in Brazil
While there’s no doubt that mobile Internet is gaining quite a bit of ground in Brazil, We Are Social indicates that 77% of page views in Brazil are from laptops and desktops, compared to 20% of page views coming from mobile phones and 3% from tablets.

Myth #5: Facebook is Fading Away in Brazil
Despite reports that teens have abandoned Facebook in droves, it doesn’t seem to be happening in Brazil—and in markets like the U.S., no proof has been offered that Snapchat or Yik Yak command a larger share of the social media audience than Facebook. As far as Brazil is concerned, We Are Social reports that Facebook was the most popular social platform, trailed closely by WhatsApp. And in the number 3 spot was Facebook Messenger. Other social networks—including Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest—had much lower usage levels than the top 3, anywhere from 11% to 19% lower.

With oceans of data floating around, all from different sources and sometimes conflicting, it’s key to be able to drill down to the essentials. So in this post we do exactly that with the Latin American online market. A quick scroll down will show you some key numbers you can use for background in preparing proposals or memos or for sharing with colleagues.

Average CTR for Online Ads in Latin America
Even though comScore and other sources rightfully point out that CTR is not really the best measure for the effectiveness of online ads, just for reference, Sizmek reported the following:

Email Marketing
While we don’t have recent numbers for all of Latin America, in late 2012 Return Path—an email intelligence company—reported that Latin America had the lowest inbox placement rate of all regions studied: 69%. In September 2014 Return Path noted that Brazil had 60% inbox placement rate for emails, compared to rates of more than 80% in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany and Italy.

Mobile
According to eMarketer, 194 million Latin Americans access the Internet with mobile phones and of these 126 million do so via smartphones. By the end of 2015 there will be more than 152 million smartphone users in Latin America and Chile will lead the region in smartphone penetration with 55.5%.
While in 2015 Mexico will have the highest tablet penetration in Latin America at 35%, Brazil will have nearly 35 million tablet users in 2015 compared to just under 23 million in Mexico. Overall, by the end of 2015 more than 92 million Latin Americans will own tablets. Given that the Population Reference Bureau reports that the region has a population of 618 million, this means that there will be nearly 15% tablet penetration in Latin America by the end of 2015. Below are some data tables from eMarketer on smartphone penetration and tablet penetration in Latam (click to enlarge):

Now, it’s important to note that comScore lists a smaller amount of Internet users for countries than other sources. For example, if we extrapolate out the numbers above, it would seem that comScore is reporting a total of 75 million Internet users in Brazil, while both IBOPE and eMarketer indicate that their more than 100 million Brazilian Internet users.

In addition, data from Google and TNS indicates that Internet users in Brazil watch online video ads more frequently than those in Argentina or Mexico. In fact, 36% of Brazilian Internet users say they watch online video ads every day. Brazilians are also more likely than other Latin Americans to watch mobile video: 35% of Brazilian smartphone users watch mobile online videos at least daily, compared to 25% of Mexican smartphone users and 19% of Argentine smartphone users.

Online Reviews
The Digilats study of Latin American Internet users by JWT indicated that significant percentages of Latin Americans are reading online reviews of products (click to enlarge):

Both online music downloads and digital music subscriptions are on the rise in Latin America.

According to the most recent digital music report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry or IFPI—released in November 2014—Latin America posted 27% digital music revenue growth in 2013. Overall, revenues from digital music grew by 124% in Latin America between 2010 and 2013.

According to the Federation’s report, a number of Latam countries had powerful individual growth, including Peru (149%), Colombia (85%) and Argentina (69%).

Brazil
A recent study from Opinion Box indicated that 28% of Brazilians stream music, though 76% still prefer to listen to music via traditional radio. However, another study from Opinion Box—done in June 2014—surveyed 1,484 Brazilian Internet users and found that 76% listened to music on their cell phones. Of these, 84% listen to MP3 files, 65% listen to the FM radio embedded in the device and nearly 31% use streaming music apps. In addition, while 2014 numbers aren’t available yet, the Associação Brasileira de Produtores de Discos, (Brazilian Association of Record Producers or ABPD) reported that digital music sales in Brazil went up by 22% in 2013 and that digital sales accounted for 36% of total music sales.

What to Do with This Data
While it’s tricky to find large scale spikes in digital music consumption for every Latin American country, there’s enough data for the larger markets to suggest a significant change is taking place. For advertisers and agencies, this means that looking into ad solutions from sites like Deezer may deliver some strong results with campaigns, especially with the younger age groups (15 to 24, 25 to 35) that make up the majority of Latam’s Internet users.

Please contact us to find out more how we can increase efficiencies for Latin American agencies through media services like planning or buying or via advertising technology solutions like programmatic buying.

While targets change with every campaign, having as much of a detailed handle as possible on Brazilian Internet users can help digital planners start optimizing even before they launch. With that in mind, we reviewed fresh data on Brazilian internautas to pick out details about behavior and habits that may help improve results with online ad campaigns.

>>>Consider Price-Sensitive Components for Campaigns
Here’s why:

Checking product prices is the #1 reason Brazilians say they use the Internet*

While 42% of Brazilian Internet users go online with computers when at home, more of them (52%) use cell phones*

Among the most popular apps among Brazilians (as ranked by App Annie), several don’t allow advertising, including WhatsApp and Instagram

Sources: *FNazca, **Google

Please contact us to find out more how we can increase efficiencies for Latin American agencies through media services like planning or buying or via advertising technology solutions like programmatic buying.